University of the Sunshine Coast

University of the Sunshine Coast.

The University of the Sunshine Coast is a small university located in a central part of the Sunshine Coast district. It was established in 1996. If you've studied at USC, feel free to share your experiences by rating and reviewing the university as a place to study.

USC Rating

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User Rating 2.7 (82 votes)
Comments Rating 2.05 (22 reviews)
Australia Ranking 36
Based on world university rankings.
Source: Australian Universities

Student Reviews

28 Responses

  1. Rachel
    | Reply

    Terrible Nursing Course Coordinator

    I have had a terrible experience with this university. Despite writing several letters requesting a recommendation or identify my previous course coordinator, however from the current course coordinator for the nursing postgraduate program, they have refused to provide one. Furthermore, they could not even inform me who the previous course coordinator was.

    I have completed a master’s degree here and need a recommendation letter specifically for my literature review course, yet there has been no follow-up or assistance, she even told me I can not do PHD because that is a research degree since I am not qualified. Their response has been unhelpful, extremly negative and lacking any valuable suggestions/responsibility.

    This is by far the worst university experience I have had. If you are considering pursuing a PhD in the future, I strongly advise against studying at this university.

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  2. G.Curran
    | Reply

    Biomedical Science

    I’m very impressed with USC Biomedical course. the courses are well planned and thought through. Delivery is excellent, facilitated by modern labs, resources, tutorial opportunities and assessment tools. Staff are very approachable, well-qualified and enthusiastic in their academic fields. I have always found staff genuinely hel0ful, well-prepared and make learning materials relevant and interesting. overall, Par Excellence.

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  3. Anonymous
    | Reply

    I am a recent graduate of nursing science, honestly, choose another university. I have previously studied elsewhere therefore I feel I am able to honestly say, avoid this university at all costs, by far the worst educational experience I have had.
    No support, egotistical lecturers that have no genuine time or apparent interest in actually helping students, and although lovely the people at the student support services don’t seem to have any actual knowledge on subject support, the lecturers are rarely able to be contacted.

  4. Chris
    | Reply

    Psychology at UniSC

    I completed the Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) (Honours) completely at USC. My overall experience was fantastic. Teching staff were supportive and made room to answer questions and were quick to reply to emails, yet it would take weeks to get assessment marks back. The uni definitely struggled to move to online learning throughout covid but I can say that during my honours year (2022) those issues had been resolved completely and their online learning is much better now. There was a large variety of thesis options due to the diverse areas of competence of the psychology supervisors and the lecturers and tutors genuinely want to see you succeed. Also, note that there is no placement for this honours degree.

    The only major issue I had was that any class that the head of the psychology department taught was abysmal. He taught both physiological psychology and 4th year advanced statistics and those were both the worst marks in my entire degree (dragging down my final mark). Course content included copied and pasted sections from textbooks/youtube videos/articles and had extremely hard-to-understand explanations of difficult concepts. The textbook was only about SPSS and didnt have information about the complex advanced statistical methods that were needed for the final exam (worth 45% of the total mark). He also openly admitted to writing workshop notes at 2 am the night before class. As a cohort we made formal complaints and nothing was done due to his position within the department.

    USC is a great university but expect to self-teach those specific subjects if you want to succeed and go on to get into masters.

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  5. Gary Jam
    | Reply

    Biomedical Science

    so far, really impressed. into 2nd year Biomedical Science. Staff top of their field, well accomplished, helpful, knowledgeable and course delivery first rate.

  6. Kayle Smith
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    DO NOT ATTEND

    Do not attend. Work for a diploma or other qualification to go higher, this university has admin who dont know what theyre doing, tutors who either are very lovely with no power or power tripping crazies. They cancelled my bachelor without notice, including the classes, and when I asked for help their response was a “cross study” (basically pay us but study somewhere else). They want money and dont care how many students they need to run over to get it.

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  7. Nursing student
    | Reply

    They fail International students!!

    nursing program for international students sucks. You have to teach yourself by watching nursing lectures on YouTube because they don’t teach you. you have to read books and study on your own.
    you get nothing out of USC. I was eager to learn but they just don’t teach you.
    but always expect you to be prepared for lectures/tutorials & especially practicums.
    but how??? how was I supposed to be ready without support from the professor or uni?? not sure why I need to pay the tuition when they are not teaching me??
    they failed lots of international students at the very end of the nursing program by facilitators accusing a student of doing something wrong, language barrier, etc.
    so frustrating and stressful.
    International students pay over $30000 per year but they don’t let international students graduate. just into making money by failing students which almost seems like they are doing it on purpose. I have heard similar stories from international students.
    pls, go to other unis.. like QUT, Griffith, or UQ.
    I heard ACU & USQ is good too.
    For other states.. maybe try UniSA or Deakin or Curtin seemed nice.
    Avoid UniSC if you are an international student who wants to graduate.

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  8. W
    | Reply

    THERE ARE FAR BETTER OPTIONS TO SECURE YOUR FUTURE

    Have recently graduated from this University. This is the 5th university I have attended and the worst by far. The unprofessionalism and lack of communication (by lecturers, program coordinators, subject coordinators and Vice Chancellor) is horrendously extinct.
    One lecturer cut class short by 45 minutes and stated that she felt we had done enough learning for the day and that she was “busting for a s##t”. This incident was reported and swept under the rug with “it’s your word against hers”. Well, actually it’s not. Every lecture hall has cameras and microphones, in addition there were 30 other students in attendance. Having said that, there were several amazing tutors and lecturers, however, they disappeared after a semester (a couple of whom shared there USC experiences in confidence with myself prior to leaving).
    A meeting with the Vice Chancellor, to discuss students grievances and suggestions, fell on deaf ears and became obvious during the meeting the Vice Chancellor was oblivious to the structure of the Nursing Degree and the lack of student support available and required to complete degree. I was greeted at the commencement of the meeting with Vice Chancellor and 3 other senior staff members with “Oh, we are glad you made it, we were just packing up to leave. Your appointment time was 10am”. I argued this and evidenced the 10:30am start time with the email confirmation received from the Vice Chancellors PA. No apology received, as she stared at me over the top of her glasses. Arrogance in all its element.
    I was advised that the structure at USC is the same as every other University and that I needed to learn that. I then advised that I had attended 4 Universities previously and I was post grad for 3 degrees. Those in attendance did not appreciate a student being prepared for such a meeting and having supporting evidence of USC issues.
    Despite those in attendance agreeing that there was quite a few valid issues that required some modification and restructure, nothing was ever remedied.
    For future students, I recommend doing your homework and researching what university is going to provide what you require and remember that Universities are nothing more than a profit reaping business and without student enrolment will cease to exist.
    Do not be afraid to stand up for broken promises made by Universities in order to get your enrolment, remember that you are entering into a contract with them, where you, as the consumer, have rights and do not have to endure substandard services and delivery.
    The staff turnover is an obvious sign there are management issues within this university. I don’t think I saw a tutor or lecturer for more than one semester.
    Anyways, there are other options, and far better ones.
    Good luck to all future students.

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  9. L
    | Reply

    Mixed experience

    I have just completed a Bachelor of Science. I left with a strong GPA. My experience is mixed.

    I took a long time to complete my degree and as such, can talk about changes over a passage of time.

    One thing I will say is that it improved, especially post covid. The university was forced to adapt to a more modern form of study and use more online content. They also made the material more succinct. You used to get a lot of rambling in the 2 hour lectures, also just speaking jargon not relevant to the assessment or above the course level.

    More effort was put into clearly expressing relevant information.

    The teaching quality over my degree was sometimes fairly poor. There were concepts that were “taught” during my degree that I used to stress myself over, thinking I was just stupid for not getting it. I wasn’t. I actually can understand a lot, if it is explained well. I improved in my degree when I spent less time trying to understand what the teacher was saying and just go to YouTube to have someone else explain the same thing better.

    Some of these lecturers clearly care only about their research, grants, and are not interested in teaching, but they do it on the side because they are expected to. Another issue was getting recent graduates to take courses. The issue wasn’t usually a lack of knowledge from the tutor, but simply not being able to teach very well and not receiving much training or support. A course in teaching before becoming a tutor would benefit quality.

    The most toxic element of a science degree was the culture. When I first entered the degree, I was a young excited student. I remember emailing a lecturer about something (I would not have been rude, maybe a little naive about wording things because I came from a small town and wasn’t used to a more formal setting). I was treated with disrespect and contempt. This person has a reputation so I know she didn’t only do it to me. It was like they viewed the correspondence as them doing me a favour, however, as my degree progressed, I realised – actually I am paying for this. It is their job to provide a service of some standards.

    My degree experience changed when I stopped accepting rudeness, became a bit more assertive, and also just generally the culture changed due to young ppl realising that kind of behaviour wasn’t acceptable and that these ppl aren’t gods. Education shouldn’t be considered elite or only for ppl who come from cities and private schools, but for everyone. Some staff really need to get off their pedestal. It is possible to be educated but remain down to earth.

    Another extremely toxic thing about science was the teachers treating the content like it was elite. I remember a lecturer (who still works there) in front of 100s of students saying that a science degree was worth 5 arts degrees. There was a level of disrespect to other disciplines. Young students are very influenced and I’m sure this attitude would have rubbed off on them.

    In fact, I’m certain it did. At a later point in my degree I was doing a different subject, and the young recent graduate tutor was very proudly talking about how students have a nervous breakdown doing their course and that there was a 50% fail rate or something.

    I did the course, achieved well, but while doing it I could see exactly why students were struggling. The delivery of content was terrible, and even though the content wasn’t particularly hard, it was badly structured, and they put way too much information into each week, sometimes so they couldn’t even fit it all in. But then would randomly have very light weeks. Also obviously from what I said above you can see the culture in science was not to support ppl.

    This same subject changed a lot over the years. I entered it a few times, but found it so obnoxious that I would drop out before financial penalty. Finally I did it, after covid as it was required for my degree. It improved following covid because they allowed for a different method of achieving in the course. Prior you used to have to go in for long periods and work a lot in groups. This doesn’t work for everyone. Post covid, they were forced to put the material online which suited me better. I left with a HD, but I was one of the worse experiences of my degree. Also an important subject, which absolutely needs further improvement. I have heard from a friend there are still similar issues.

    I don’t think the issues in my science degree can be said to go over into all other subjects. I did a lot of electives and was shocked that the atmosphere was much more supportive and the teachers seemed to care more about teaching and their students.

    I’m studying post graduate now, and I’ve decided my university career is over with usc for now. I would never study science or psychology with them again, however, I wouldn’t be against doing something in another discipline. I could picture doing a phd there one day or teaching. Who knows.

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    • sin
      | Reply

      Failing Int'l students in Nursing

      it could be long writing here after 3/ years talking about my experience in university, It was very disappointing and stressful to be in this particular university as an international student, I paid huge amount of money and they have been failing lot of international students in final year for small reason till date, this caused lots of harassments and suicidal to many students i know, i almost did suicide myself ,they failed many international students like me , I had to wait for one whole year to repeat that unit, because there is no provision for repeat same year. Has to wait until one whole year..as that unit only offered in once a year, international student already paying so much money has to apply VISA again for all family members, very RACIST policy that don’t consider the international student concerns, they are just quickly doing their students admission and no quality studies, few teachers i had good experience, not all of them are like that, but most of the teachers they just doing the jobs, really stressful to be with that university i have ever experienced after studying may other Australian universities. spent my time and money, my youth, i never forget the experience, i am also not interested in the jobs that i have achieved after the graduation , one year waiting and my graduates position dismissed , I don’t feel confident, i became mentally anxious of even small mistakes, panicking, i developed this mental health issues since then, my Visa for permanent residency opportunities went forever, it was huge financial, family and societal implications in my personal life , I had to start from scratch again with lots of time and investment again. its not only personal experience, i have heard my own close friend who did graduate from this university has similar experience, hope our voice can be heard to prevent other international students getting this negative experiences,

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  10. Zinny
    | Reply

    I agree with all the other comments. I did my Psychology Honours at USC and it was very disappointing and stressful. In one of our most difficult units (advance statistics), we had no lectures so we had to teach ourselves everything through the provided lecture notes which were copied and pasted by our lecturer from different textbooks with many spelling and grammar mistakes and made no sense! The tutorials were not related to lecture notes so we got no practice and support on the lecture content during the tutorial. Come the exam time we had one of the harshest exams that I ever had and so many Honours students actually failed! (remember you need a high GPA to enter Honours, these are hard-working students).
    The lecturer had zero reflection on his teaching style and his feedback was that we need to take more notes in class! When we made a group complaint we were told by the head of Psychology that unfortunately, they can’t respond to our complaint and we should make individual complaints, no reason for rejecting our complaint was provided. The ones who made an individual complaint were also told that there is no merit to their complaint. We went around a circle, learnt very little, experienced a huge level of stress, and graduated with lower grade marks due to the low quality of the university. As many people know, Psychology is a very competitive field and students were working extremely hard to keep a high GPA to study for a master’s degree.
    The above summarises my experience at USC. We had to make a collective complaint for 3 out of 4 of our units. Just to give you perspective, I studied a five years full-time degree at QUT and never once made a complaint.
    Go anywhere else if you like to have a positive learning experience, not be stressed out of your mind, and maintain a high GPA.

  11. Anonymous
    | Reply

    Just had to transfer because they discontinued my major AND minor with no warning or even an email! I only found out because I looked up my major and the website didn’t even exist anymore. They said I could continue but I would have to do courses that didn’t relate to my major at all. Also, the computers couldn’t handle even opening one program.

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  12. Vanessa
    | Reply

    Unprofessional and poor quality teachers

    Unprofessional and inconsistent, terribly disjointed and low quality… I’m transferring to UQ: need I say more!

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  13. Brydie
    | Reply

    Greedy, corner cutting, cost cutting institute

    What a debacle! Can’t seem to get the help I need. We have gone from face to face to online to face to face to online during this pandemic and the help offered to students is constantly being reduce to the point where I don’t even where to turn to ask questions. I have been locked out of my accounts numerous times during semester, constantly having to ask IT to help with a new password (that is procedure) and now they’ve just passed me over to someone else….I don’t have a way to contact anyone to help with this problem and it imperative to my studies that I be able to access the online library to complete assessments. But due to something at USC’s end I continually get locked out and have to send emails back and forth which take me nowhere and I cannot even study. So I’m at the last straw here, and wasting my time on a review that will do NOTHING to help my cause and this big greedy industry will have the marketing power to suck new students in without ever having read the reviews from students. I would like to offer 0 stars but not sure if it my vote will count then!

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  14. James Barrie
    | Reply

    water water ever where

    I was considering studying at USC however when chatting with the student support team I was baffled when the words external study and off campus study were lost on them. After my discussion it was proven that USC do not provide ANY online courses . This is a concept I would have thought a new university would have embraced considering the shifting times in the technological age I will be sticking with my original choice, even though I will be living on the coast and possibly right next to the USC campus, I would much prefer to negotiate the difficulties of having to endure a 4 hour total train travel when commencing my blended subjects. After reading all the reviews I would take careful consideration about enrolling with USC if I were a new or mature age student.

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    • Robert
      | Reply

      Past Student

      I completed two Masters Degrees online at USC and they were great

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  15. anonymous
    | Reply

    very disappointed

    whilst starting my first year of uni this year, I was excited for a new chapter, however the excitement completely left as soon as I entered the university. the lecturers and tutors are not willing to take on negative feedback, they do not provide support for tasks and assignments, the course are not interesting and and I understand that university is all about independence and self teaching yourself, but it is hard to do so they do not provide learning materials to actually learn. I dread going to university as it is so unenjoyable…my time so far and only been stressful and unenjoyable. I am heartbroken that I have not been able to enjoy this new chapter and it has honestly put me in a negative mindset towards anything at USC

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  16. Anonymous
    | Reply

    Anonymous

    The nursing program at USC is extremely unsupportive. As a student you are expected to learn your practical knowledge in tutorials that only run for 2-3 hours a week. You are expected to teach yourself outside of the University, however there are limited laboratories, and when it comes to exam time you cannot get a booking. The staff are never available outside of set tutorial times. They say they don’t get paid enough to put in the extra effort. If you fail a subject, there is a high chance that you won’t be allowed back into the program because the structure of the course is so rigid that students have to take a leave of absence from the course for 2 semesters if they fail a subject. During that time off you are expected to teach yourself and retain the knowledge you have learnt for a whole year without any support. Overall, it is clear that it is just a money-making business. Their values for students are extremely low, no matter how much they advertise ‘student advocacy’. The university over-enrols students in every discipline, even if it is going to impact on learning, because the money is the university’s main focus. I wouldn’t recommend this university to anyone, unless you are prepared to teach yourself your degree and pay for it as well.

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  17. Anonymous
    | Reply

    Fantastic staff. Greedy management.

    I study Creative Industries at USC and absolutely love it. The faculty are incredible and supportive and the courses are great. The only negative is that the management seem to only care about money. The arts/creative industries hardly get any funding. They don’t even have a performing arts theatre, and yet there’s two multimillion-dollar sports stadiums. Students are learning in demountable classrooms, meanwhile they are building the brand new Moreton Bay campus. Sessional staff are exploited and disposed of, and face-to-face contact is constantly being reduced to save money. I love USC and am heartbroken to see this happening.

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  18. Julian
    | Reply

    Can’t agree with the other comments. I had a great year at USC as an international student. The support by lecturers and tutors was very helpful and the courses were organized. Can’t complain about anything.

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  19. Lyn
    | Reply

    I agree with all the above comments. Great staff at the front office, lots of information but that’s where it stopped. Student Support Services didn’t seem to understand student needs and there answer to everything was study part time.
    A whole semester in a small group and the lecturer still had no idea who I was. Would be nice if the lecturers could stay on task. Perhaps it was just the campus I was on. A very lonely experience.

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  20. Zoe
    | Reply

    Go somewhere else

    Hi guys,

    Sadly I would say go somewhere else!! I am in the new nursing degree and can only speak for this area obviously. But I have had way too many let downs and supportless, confusing, unorganised and totally all over the place courses! They make the already massive workload twice as big via things like unaccessible resources (readings, books etc) and then expect you to figure out on your own what you shoudl be reading and learning without much guidance at all!

    Don’t expect much help from the student support services either, they make it sound like you have good support, then bail when you really need them!

    Not must of a learning experience, more of a stressful time wasting experience! I am getting through what I can this year and moving back to NZ to go to a MUCH better nursing degree there next year!

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  21. Anik
    | Reply

    no support from lecturers instead of guiding they start putting blame on you, had a really bad experience in Sydney campus (ATMC) feels like i wasted my time and money.

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  22. Nikky
    | Reply

    Hi guys
    I don’t recommend this uni for international students, specific for the science major.
    During last semester I was completely alone. All students were native and they ignored me. it such a pain if you have team work.

  23. krissi
    | Reply

    USC has great facilities and teachers are generally nice, my advice is, don’t expect to come out of any QLD TAFE and think you are uni ready.
    Tafe does not equip students for uni academically.
    I found this uni very supportive but I found the Blackboard online learning program just useless and extremely frustrating to the point I couldn’t even submit work n then failed because of the program failure rather then my own merits. again very frustrating.

  24. john
    | Reply

    Into my second semester now, the courses are unorganised and too many lecturers are unprofessional. Would suggest another university..

  25. Adam
    | Reply

    Overall, my experience whilst attending this University was very disappointing and would recommend anyone I know to choose somewhere else. The only positive was it’s location on the Sunshine Coast.

    • hashir
      | Reply

      hi bro.i want to study electrical engineering in usc,why dont you recommend it.plz guide in detail.i shall very thankful to you.

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